August 4, 2003

Washington, DC – Prompted by the Armenian National Institute’s (ANI) 1999 trip to Armenia to honor U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau – the first American to alert the world of the Armenian Genocide – a re-release of the Ambassador’s 1918 book includes an epilogue by his grandson detailing his grandfather’s life and career as a public figure.

Henry Morgenthau III wrote a 33-page afterword, titled, “The Rest of the Story,” for the book Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story. It details the ANI-sponsored delegation he led to Armenia in April 1999.

In the book, Morgenthau describes a poignant visit to President Robert Kocharian’s presidential palace with included Armenian Assembly Board of Trustees Chairman Hirair Hovnanian and ANI Board of Governors Member Carolyn Mugar. Morgenthau writes: “In a ceremonial exchange we took note of Ambassador Morgenthau’s early outcry altering the world to the Armenian Genocide and I remarked on the pleasure he would have derived in witnessing the rebirth of the Armenian nation.”

The original book, a memoir of the Ambassador’s years in Turkey, was published shortly after Morgenthau - Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1913-1916 - returned to the U.S. to raise money for the surviving Armenians. His book includes a chapter on the Armenians, entitled, “The Murder of a Nation,” in which he writes, “I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared with the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915.”

The reprint, published by Wayne State University Press, was edited by Peter Balakian and includes an introduction by Roger Smith--both of whom are members of ANI’s academic council. The book also includes a preface by well-known scholar Robert Jay Lifton.

For a copy of the book, visit http://wsupress.wayne.edu/literature/armenian/balakianams.htm

The Armenian National Institute is dedicated to the study, research, and affirmation of the Armenian Genocide. Visit its Web site at www.armenian-genocide.org.